LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

ChapX— - Oopyright No. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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JACOB W. SLAGLE. 



EDUCATOR OF MORGAN COLLEGE PRINT, 
BALTIMORE, MD. 






6?liK SUMMER of 1893 was the harbinger of s. 
*-*- liistory that was to perpetuate the name and es- 
tablish the greatness of the people of the United 
States to the remotest parts of the earth, and to con- 
gregate a con^^lomeration of the most refined and 
highly civilized, with the most expensive, profligate 
and astute savagery; dissimilar in habits and cus- 
toms; circumscribed within a systematically arranged 
acreage; adorned and ornamented b}' a cultured exhi- 
bition of unparallelled splendor. 

The mammoth architectual ])eauty and sauvity 
of its buildings, stabling all the vast revolutionizing 
scientific mechanical improvements and devices that 
the cunning of man could discover and invent— in 
gold and silver; in iroa and brass; in silk, lace and tap- 
estry; in painting; in marble and bronze; in exhibi- 
tions on land and water: in wood and leather; in 
endless variety of flowers, shrubs and plants; in 
music and poetry; in mineral; in electricity; in ag- 
riculture and horticulture; in pride of state and foreign 
buildings; in artistic paths and bridges; in Indian 
and I^aplander; in the inhabitants of the Islands of 
the sea and Oriental countries; in the rolling chairs; in 



WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



the electric fountains; in the Ferris Wheel; in reli- 
gion and woman's unnatural advancement; in the 
hilarity with closed doors; in the festivities, in the 
noonday's sunshine; in the secret history of the 
Convent of La Rabida; in the numerous pavilions 
with open doors and windows; in appropriating and 
utilizing the ingenuity of the Greeks and Romans to 
divorce the lake from the land; to decorate the nu- 
merous arches and doorways of a colossal undertak- 
ing. 

To this splendid display and entertainment the 
United States extended the hand of fellowship and 
hospitality, to all nations, to all classes and creeds, 
admitted without discrimination, to exhibit, adver- 
tise and market. 

During the promulgation and formation of this 
giganiic enterprise, many of our old gray-headed 
fathers nodded their heads in warnings of failure and 
impossibility. Even states and cities rolled up their 
eyes into terrible whiteness, and shrunk from the 
la^'ish disbursements the superstructure would en- 
tail. But Young America, great from the very 
threshold of life and walking alone a full-fledged man, 
from thecradle to the grave; the very thought of such 
a prerogative, in his mature imagination moulded 
him instantly into a Commercial Hercules. 

When the States in Congress assembled, were 
summoned to determine the meritorious contest for 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



this great prize, Error and Jealousy contended 
with each other in a fierce and spirited battle of 
words, which culminated in the Golden Apple fall- 
ing happily into the lap of the youthful Chicago. 

Men and women, with hearts to resolve, heads to 
control and willing hands to execute, excelling the 
cunning of a Ulysses and the eloquence of a Cicero, 
quickly unfolded an Atlas among them, and with 
their auxiliaries and ideas materalized, applied 
themselves to the construction and framing of the 
Columbus World's Fair. 

The White City was, indeed, an unexpected sur- 
prise and pleasure to its multitude of visitors. Every 
effort that science could suggest, ingenuity could 
devise, and mechanics could discover, were invaded 
to contribute its share. 

During the prolixity of its preparation and 
activity, there were rains of delight and storms of 
terror, but by making haste slowly, the undertaking 
was anchored safely in the out-stretched arms of 
success. 

Ii was on the 17th day of May, 1893, after hav- 
ing pursued an active business life of years, disintegra- 
tion played its part. The long array of sharp bar- 
gains firmly sepulchered, a new departure followed, 
and the long wished for wings of freedom realized. 

The following trip was mapped out; Baltimore to 
Chicago, with it white Suburban City; southwesterly 



10 WESTWARD R AMBLINGS 



to Saint Louis on the Mississippi; due westerly to 
California; south to San Diego; north to Tacoma, 
Puget Sound; thence to Victoria and Vancouver 
Island; east to Indianapolis thence to Cincinnati; 
thence to Baltimore, our starting point. 

The start was made from Union Station, Balti- 
more, on the eleven-thirty morning train. With 
buoyant spirits and happy hearts, we glide over the 
shining iron rails of the Northern Central Railroad 
to Harrisburg, where we are transferred to the vesti- 
buled Colvimbus Express lor Chicago. Along the 
banks of the blue Juniata, over rugged mountains, 
round the horse-shoe bend via the Pennsylvania Cen- 
tral Railroad, to Pittsburg; thence via the Pittsburg, 
Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, through Ohio, 
with its checkered and diversified landscapes of wheat 
fields, prosperous towns and smooth rivers, into and 
through the state of Indiana, across the scattered 
prairies of Illinois to South Chicago, we are rapidly 
whirled, landing, at last, with whole bones and grate- 
ful hearts, at our destination. Disembarking with 
umbrella and satchel in hand, by marching and 
counter-marching, we finally untangle the torturous 
route to our rooms at the Baltimore Inn. The Inn 
not being in a habitable condition, we leave our re- 
sponsibilities to the tender mercies of an almost empty 
house, a larder of cheese and crackers. Sallying 
forth across the sand lots into unknown depths of 



AND HOME AGAIN. II 

Suburban Chicago, we succeed in procuring rooms at 
the Vendome Club, corner Oglesby Avenue and 62nd 
street. Our baggage having been anchored, we rest 
the remainder of the day, imbued with great expec- 
tations for the morrow, as the gilded spires of the 
White City loomed up before us, four blocks distant. 
The morning welcomed us with a brightness that 
only the middle of May could furnish. As there were 
four of us, we would naturally be in a perfect fervor 
of enthusiasm, as we were about to realize the crown- 
ing pinnacle of our great anticipation. 

With smiling faces and hidden effervescent ecsta- 
cies of delight eager to be satisfied; in a rapid pace we 
start up 62nd Street, passing the Bankers Hotel, and 
crossing a vacant lot, by tunnel underneath the tracks 
of the Illinois Central Railroad, close to Buffalo Bill's 
Wild Western Show, to Stony Island Avenue, we 
reached the gateway. Our hands in our deep pockets, 
produce four bright silver half-dollars, and singly pass 
through the swinging gate, and touch the dedicated 
ground with its ponderous weight of stately build- 
ings. The Transportation Building was the first to 
attract our admiration, with its gilded, refulgent 
doorway, and was our guide during subsequent visits 
on entering and departing. 



12 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



II 



♦ mFTER two weeks of lucrative gratification, on 
q) J- the morning of June ist, we leave the White 
City for St. Louis, via Chicago «& Alton Railroad 
passing through a rich and fertile country, prosper- 
ous cities, and flourishing towns, and arrived at St. 
Louis in the afternoon, putting up at the Southern 
Hotel, where no one need regret seeking comfort and 
safety. Next morning, we take a carriage and drive 
around the city, visiting, among other noted attrac- 
tions. Westmoreland Place, the pride of the city— a 
suburb of luxurious homes, reflecting wealth and taste 
both in architectural beauty of the buildings and in 
excellency of the care in beautifying the surroundings. 
The Park is a large one, and as nature created it. 

After a night's rest and another day's sight-seeing, 
we start for Kansas City over the Burlington Route, 
passing through the central portion of Missouri, 
and arrive at Kansas City, on the banks of the muddy 
Missouri River, apparently landing in the crater of 
an extinct volcano. Omnibuses and carriages are 
not much in demand, as the city is a terraced clifl" — 
most travel being performed by cable and electric 



AND HOME AGAIN. I3 

cars. We put up at the Coats House, beautifully 
located and a desirable place for tourists. The city 
is largely built with Eastern capital, as New England 
— Boston and Yankee names appear on all the large 
buildings. The streets are well paved, and the public 
buildings are large and substantial. The city at pres- 
ent is laboring under a great financial depression, ow- 
ing to its expansion, over-production and rapid ad- 
vance in unimproved land, and the general business 
stagnation. We continue our route westward through 
the state of Kansas. Along our path, we find the busy 
immigrant building and living in dugouts, or caves, 
and low houses built of sod, that present a cold and 
uncomfortable welcome, but in strength and dura- 
bility they withstand the summer storms and winter 
blizzards. While the land is both level and rolling, 
it wears the appearance of quiet and solitude. 

We enter the plains of the state of Colorado, on a 
beautiful Sunday afternoon and make a halt at Denver, 
and register at the Windsor Hotel, but although it is 
large and substantial, tourists prefer a more central 
location. After dinner we change to Brown's Palace 
Hotel, which ranks as one of the finest in the West, 
possessing very pleasing accommodations. Denver, 
like many other western cities, is of rapid growth, large 
and elegant buildings, wide streets, equipped with 
electric and cable cars. Many handsome private 
dwellings adorn the upper portion of the city, with 



WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



the usual roomy western surroundings, beautiful 
with green sod, trees, and flowers. The streets are 
lined with well stocked-stores and manj^ shoppers. 
In the evening, we visit the Tabor Opera House, 
and witness some strange contortions of the muscles 
of the face and body and enjoy the merry songs, 
especially a comical burlesque on the famous song 
of Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-a. 

The climate of Denver, and Colorado in general , 
is pleasant the greater part of the year, and attracts 
many invalids. It is a pure western city, with its 
constant gold and silver mining excitement, smelt- 
ings works, and mercurial fluctuations in land. The 
unconquerable cowboy, in all his bold and reckless 
career, is reared and flourishes here in all his wild 
abandonment, squandering his earnings in gambling 
and riotous living. 

From Denver, many interesting side trips may be 
made. We selected Georgetown and Silver Plume, 
which can be easily and comfortably visited. Taking 
the morning train, in a little while, we are among 
the Rockies, passing through the great gorges, over 
the rapid and swollen streams, along towering 
mountains of solid rock, rising like a great masonry 
of volcanic workmanship. We reach Idaho Springs, 
a mountain summer resort, with its merry crowds 
awaiting the train. We ascend the mountains, 
whose snow-covered peaks are painted against the 



AND HOME AGAIN. 1 5 



blue sky. Upward the engine drags the train, until 
Georgetown is reached, nestling in a hollow sur- 
rounded by lofty mountains. Iron trestle works, span- 
ning from mountain to mountain, are crossed, down 
along the narrow borders of deep chasms, with foaming 
waters, we pick our way gradually, crawling down 
the mountain side and recrossing the vallej^, under- 
neath the railroad, and then again up the mountain 
side we climb, forming a perfect loop in the railroad 
track. As we look back, the winding loop and 
Georgetown stand out in full view, deep down in the 
in the mountain gorge. Silver Plume, the terminus 
of the road, is reached at midday. After refresh- 
ments, we take stages and visit the Mendotta Silver 
Mine, which we explore a distance of two thousand 
feet, each one armed with a flaming tallow dip or 
tin lantern. Awa}^ back in the mud and water was a 
narrow plank, from which some one was constantly 
making a misstep with an "O my! dear me!" We 
find the miners picking and breaking the ore bear- 
ing mineral. We returned to Denver on the evening 
train. 

Next morning, bidding farewell to Denver, via, 
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, we go south pass- 
ing ranches and grazing lands for the numerous 
herds of roaming cattle. At a rapid glance, a faint 
idea of the hardships and pleasures of a life on the 
prairies are realized. At noon, we reach Palmer 



1 6 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

Lake, situated at the foot of the Rocky Range. The 
beautiful lake spreads out before us with its bright 
gaudy-colored row-boats and artificial rocky islands. 
After a hurried lunch, we continue southward, ar- 
riving at Colorado Springs in the afternoon. The 
Antlers Hotel gave us a hearty welcome. The town 
is beautifully laid out — its streets, one hundred feet 
wide, are ornamented with double rows of trees and 
intervening drivewaj-s; besides the climate is most 
delightful. The town is famous as a health resort, 
in fact, it is supported by crowds of invalids, who 
flock here from all parts. No foundries, furnaces or 
workshops that would produce and emit smoke or 
dust are permitted within the city limits. The sani- 
tary regulations are jealously guarded. 

Many pleasant and attractive places are with- 
in easy access, where Nature has lavishly unfolded 
her hidden exhibitions of entertainments. Cheyenne 
Canon was reached by electric cars, extending a few 
miles from town, and then by carriage we entered the 
canon. It being the first we explored, it was almost 
overpowering, our stock of adjectives was exhausted 
applauding its rocky and watery construction. The 
terminus is banked up with solid piles of rock almost 
perpendicular, thousands of feet high, curtained in 
gorgeous array with seven distinct water-falls, splash- 
ing down thousands of feet, playing hide and seek 
among the crevices and rocks. A steep and dan- 



AND HOME AGAIN. 1 7 

gerous-looking wooden stairway extends to the top of 
the falls, we ascend as high as the sixth falls, but ow- 
ing to the overwhelming solitude and menacing sur- 
roundings, retrace our foot-steps, and are very glad 
when we reach the last step and startlingly view the 
picturesque heights from our starting point of dangers 
passed. But there is a glorious memory to be treas- 
ured of a glimpse of virgin nature in her most danger- 
ous and threatening garb. Entering our carriage, 
return, and shudderingly pick our way through the 
great piles of rocks on all sides promisciously suspend- 
ed over our heads and immense boulders crumbled at 
our feet that storm and rain had wrenched from their 
strongholds and hurled from their lofty heights. The 
wrathful stream dashing against the broken rocks, 
circulates the cool spray on all sides. 

We take the evening train for Manitou Srings, 
five miles distant, a famous mountain and water 
resort, and rich in points of interest. We stop at 
the Grand View Hotel, but better our situation by 
moving to the Cliff House, opposite the park and 
wonderful Soda Springs, whose bubbling waters are 
laden with medicinal qualities that prove a panacea 
for many of the ills that flesh is heir to. After an af- 
ternoon and night's rest, the morning opens with a real 
summer mountain sunshine. A drive through the gar- 
den of the gods possesses many wonderful attractions, 
the opulence of colored rocks, assuming strange and 



1 8 WESTWARD R AMBLINGS 

fanciful forms. The imagination is busied discov- 
ering and solvingresemblancesof beasts, birds, mush- 
room villages, seal and bear, two camels kissing, 
the great balance rock, and all kinds of wonderful 
freaks of nature. Glen Kyre, the summer home of 
General Palmer, a wild romantic retreat, is kindly 
thrown open and made free for the public to drive 
through. lycaving the Garden, which is really the 
entrance, the gate-wa}^ is constructed of brilliant red 
sand stone rising from the level ground over three 
hundred feet in height with but a narrow drive-way 
between the great pillars that are slowly but surely 
-crumbling into dust. Crossing the sacred threshold, 
we regained the prairie, and by a circuitus drive, 
:reach the hotel. 

Next morning we drive through William's Canon 
'Small but beautiful, with its lofty and many colored 
rocks, we ascend the mountain by way of Ute Pass, 
so intimately associated with the fierce and ruthless 
Indian in the early history of our country. We visit 
the Grand Caverns, and Rain-bow Falls, wliose v\'aters 
•steal rapidly and silently along, until they come fal- 
ling over the rocks, whose large drops of sporting 
foam, forming a brilliant rainbow. Next morning 
Pikes Peak, that ever present white-capped sentinel 
in view from almost every standpoint, towering 
among the many peaks, enlist the interest of every 
traveler, as he gazes upward to its white crest 14,147 



AND HOME AGAIN. I9 

feet above the level of the sea, supposed to be the 
highest accessible point in the world. The summit 
is reached by a cog wheel rail-road, a skillful piece 
of engineering, nine miles in length, affording us 
a novel way of reaching so varied and picturesque 
a height. The engine is of peculiar construction, 
and the track is provided with a third rail with safety 
cogs; both engine and cars being built on low trucks 
to prevent them from becoming top-heav}^ on short 
curves, or in case of storms and high winds which are 
of frequent occurrence. The fare is five dollars for 
the round trip, and requires two hours to reach the 
top; the ascent being at times very steep. Slowly 
we ascend from a Summer's day to Fall, then to mid- 
winter, above the timber line, until at last we reach 
the summit through a cut-out passage of snow tower- 
ing above the cars. The top of the peak is solid 
rock entirely covered with snow, the loneliness of the 
surroundings being relieved by a telegraph of&ce, 
weather observatory, and lunch station. Many large 
mountain rats are seen leaping among the rocks, 
as large as a full grown gray squirrel, brown in color, 
covered with thick fur and long bushy tail. A pho- 
tograph of the party is taken. The air is very light 
and many find respiration difficult and distressing. 
The view from the border is something marvelous; 
an unrivalled panorama of mountain ranges, beautiful 
parks and distant towns. Immediately around, all is 



20 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

snow, as the eye roams across the vast abyss beneath, 
Colorado Springs appear in the distance like a cloud 
speck. Awa}^ off Longs Peak, 1427 1 feet, and Grays 
Peak 1 444 1 feet high respectively, and numerous 
others, clothed with caps of snow are observed. A 
few hours are very pleasantly passed. The return 
was cold and storra}^ until we reached timber line, 
where we then begin to shed heavy wraps, and soon 
Summer is again all around with its fresh green ward- 
robe. 

On our way to the hotel, we quench our thirst at 
the celebrated Iron Spring, strongly impregnated 
with iron, the waste water almost depositing a trough 
of irony sediment. 



AND HOME AGAIN. 21 



III 

3N the morning we take the train for Colorado 
Springs, South, via Denver and Rio Grande Rail- 
road, through a country of cattle ranches and over wild 
and lonely plains. On the distant elevation we watch a 
"round up" comprising hundreds of cattle, with letters 
branded on their sides, some lying down, others rest- 
less, cowboys on horseback riding around to prevent 
a stampede, wagons for shelter, cooking utensils pro- 
miscuously scattered around. We arrive at Puebla 
in the afternoon and stop at the Grand Hotel. After 
adjusting our wardrobe, we take an electric car for 
down town. Find many business houses and hand- 
some homes, one especially, an elaborate red sand- 
stone, surrounded by a beautiful lawn, covered with 
healthy fresh green sod, reminding one of a very 
sweet spring day, unfolding itself from the clouds; as 
this country is hot, sandy and everything is dry and 
and parched. Well paved streets, smelting works; a 
beautiful lake a few miles from the city affords good 
fishing and bathing. 

As the state of Colorado is a great producer of 
gold and silver, iron and copper, also granite and 
marble, and different varieties of coal; it seemed fit 



22 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

that a building should be constructed to display her 
immense subterranean wealth, hence a Mineral Palace 
was erected at Puebla. It is said to be the largest 
and most valuable collection of mineral specimens in 
the world. 

The Arkansas River passes through the centre 
of the city at a fall of seventeen feet to the mile. 
While out sight-seeing in the electric car, on crossing 
the bridge of this muddy stream, one of our ladies in- 
quired of a gentleman holding a tin bucket in his 
sun-burnt hands and wearing a working-man's ward- 
robe — what river it was we were crossing? With a 
look of scorn yet softened with a pleasant grin, he 
replied, "What river? why woman, where did you 
come from? This is the Arkansas River, what are you 
doing down in this part of the town anyway? This is 
no place for you. Go up town in the big streets, see 
the big stores. Grand Opera House, then you will see 
something worth looking at." The off-hand and pro- 
fuse panegyric and liberal generosity of egotistical 
home pride, was freezing. The audience enjoyed the 
hilarious manner more than the instruction. 

Puebla is the grand gateway to the Rockies with 
its concealed wealth and extravagant scenery. We 
leave Puebla, anxious to enter the doorway of the 
mighty mountains. 

The sights of wonder and bewitching beauty, be- 
yond the power of pen or pencil, brush or camera, to 



AND HOME AGAIN, 23 

portray the land of surprises, the land of admiration. 
Soon we are among the awe-inspiring scenery that 
abounds in this country. 

The monster Royal Gorge looms up before us, 
the windows of the cars are quickly ornamented with 
expectant faces, surprise, terror and grandeur struggle 
one with another far the ascendency. Great walls o^ 
rock hem us in, apparently reaching to the clouds, 
we stretch our necks until our heads ache, frequently 
not being able to see the track fifty feet in advance. 
Wonder piles upon wonder, as the glories of the heap- 
ed up rocks confront us,— now on the left, now on the 
right, these sharp-edged knightly cliffs, each one half 
concealing its companion in front, rising perpendicu- 
larly from the bed of the track. For miles you cannot 
see the engine on account of the serpentine construc- 
tion of the road. Peak and pinnacle, cliff and chasm, 
are on every hand, whilst at your feet lies the river, 
curling and rushing onward with its never ceasing 
roar. The thoughtful, wonder what power piled up 
this massive superstructure; how the great banks of 
solid rock took their stations as sentinels of creation. 
Gradually ascending eleven thousand feet through 
this spectacular scenery, we reach the master mining 
town of Leadville, about four o'clock in the afternoon, 
and are domiciled at the Kitchel Hotel, nowsurnamed 
the Vendome. Immediately after registering, we 
start out to look up the town. Here we purchased 



24 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



our first fruit from the Pacific Coast, sucli cherries 
and apricots; large, rich and juicy. In the evening, 
we walk to the suburbs, and witness the setting sun, 
kissing the snow peaks of the western range of moun- 
tains, and after a short twilight, all is veiled in dark- 
ness. Leadville is proudly, but humbly, located on a 
mountain throne, perched on the very top of a moun- 
tainous range, it is yet surrounded by higlier ones. 
The history of Leadville reads like a fairy tale and 
satisfies us by proof that it is a typical mining town. 

Our feelings while walking the streets of this 
modern Sodom, were not of the most assuring. Its 
early history is one of riot and wild abandon, the 
population consisting of adventurers and outcasts. 
Gambling, murder and wicked debauchery, had the 
ascendency. But its revelry and rioting scenes have 
been replaced by law abiding citizens. Yet the idle 
corner lounger with pistol and knife dangling from 
around the body are not very inviting to look upon, 
and many of them seem soldiering in the same old 
uniforms, only awaiting favorable opportunities. 

The surrounding scenery is magnificent, walled 
in on all sides by towering mountains, whose tops and 
sides are covered with snow and the bowels of which 
contain such marvels of untold wealth. The streets 
remain in a rough condition, high sidewalks on wood- 
en piles for pedestrians, there are no street cars. Its 



AND HOME AGAIN. 25 

dilapidated wild, border-ruffian appearance is its car- 
dinal attraction. 

We quit Leadvilleon a morning train, and mean- 
dering among the mountains, along the banks of 
foaming streams, pass the Holy Cross, by nature's 
roughness wrought, formed by two transverse gorges 
of immense depth, filled with perpetual snow, away 
up amid the wild mountains, there in silence and 
beauty gleams the splendor of this living Cross, that 
pictures a history to the thoughtful mind. 

Onward the train rushes, around sharp curves 
along the borders of deep chasms, around and over 
winding rivers. We entered the plains and leave 
the mountains as abruptly, as if passing through an 
open door in an artificial wall; gradually descending 
into the open plains, covered with dusty looking 
sage-bushes and crawling thorny cactus plants. 



26 WESTWARD RAMBI^INGS 



. IV 

A Y /E turn now our backs on the Rocky Mountains, 
*/* The plain is planted with hundreds of little 
mounds, upon which the sprightly little prairie 
dogs are seated, and on the approach of the train the 
cunning little fellows seek safety in flight, entering 
their underground homes. Arrived in Salt I^ake 
City, are quartered at the Knutzford Hotel, located 
in the centre of the city. Salt I^ake City, on account 
of its peculiar social and political combination, has 
many points of interest, which are now being rapidly 
eliminated and new inovations introduced. The 
surrounding country counts its mineral wealth by 
millions. The celebrated Ontario silver mine is 
located about fifty miles from the city away up in the 
snow-capped mountains. The water from the moun- 
tains, flowing clear and pure is troughed through the 
the streets for irrigation purposes. 

Temple Block contains about ten acres surround, 
ed by massive mud walls, built by Brigham Young and 
his jolly followers. Within are located the Taberna- 
cle, where the I,atter-day Saints worship; it is built in 
the shape of a colossal ellipse two hundred and fifty fiset 



AND HOME AGAIN. 27 



loDg, and its seating capacity is about ten thousand 
persons. 

The organ is an instrument of wonder and digni- 
fied beauty, constructed as it is of black walnut wood, 
the tone is something astonishing, its charming 
sweet and concordant notes are never to be forgotten. 
Generally every morning some musical member of 
the church dispenses music for the visiting public, 
as many tourists include Salt I^ake City in their trip. 
The inhabitants are disposed to show the novelties of 
the cit}^ to all its curious friends and foot-sore travel- 
ers; at Sunday services there is a chorus of two hun- 
dred voices taking part in the exercises. The acous- 
tic qualities of the building are very remarkable. 
By going to the farthest end of the gallery, a pin 
may be heard dropped on the wooden railings, where 
the rubbing of the hands can be distinctly heard and 
even a gentle whisper is wafted clear and is under- 
stood distinctly. 

In the same walled inclosure is the Temple, 
where no one is admitted but the high dignitaries of 
the church. It is built of sparkling white granite, 
said to have cost eight million dollars, and is two 
hundred feet long, and one hundred feet wide, with 
several graceful towers two hundred and twenty feet, 
towering up like exclamation points. The structure 
is neat and attractive, pleasing and massive. The 
walls are reported to be ten feet thick and the beauty 



28 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

and cleanliness is something to be admired, and one 
would conjecture that it was polished every night, as 
the morning sunshine illuminates its glittering and 
shining formation. 

East of the Temple are the homes of Brigham 
Young's wives, substantial and unpretentious look- 
ing buildings. The Lion House is surmounted by a 
cadaverous somnolent lion carved out of sandstone. 
The Bee Hive home adjoining with a good size bee 
hive perched on the very top of the building swam- 
ing with a multitude of honey bees, emblems of 
strength and endurance and of industry and overflow- 
ing sweetness. Immediately on the opposite side of 
the street is the Amelia Palace, once a beautiful 
structure, for the sixteen year old favorite wife of the 
Prophet, but now occupied by the Keely Gold Cure. 
Contiguous to the Amelia Palace, in a quiet, unosten- 
tatious lot of ground, enclosed by an iron railing, lies 
the body of the once lordly Bringham, so numerous- 
ly married, so numerous a father. 

Salt Air, on the lake is reached by rail, whose ter- 
minal is enhanced by a palatial pavilion capable of 
accommodating thousands of people. The lake is 
a delightful place to bathe in, one feels wonderfully 
refreshed and invigorated, after floating on its 
billowy bosom like a mighty cork, without the least 
fear of sinking, as the water contains seventeen to 
twenty per cent of salt. Care must be exercised not 



AND HOMK AGAIN. 29 

to get the water in the eyes, as it is ver)^ painful, as 
well as unpleasant to the taste. Report says that 
its saline qualities have great bearing on the health 
and climate of the city and the immediate vicinity. 

The first house built is pointed out as one of 
the curiosities, a small one story mud whitewashed 
hut, but in good state of preservation. The old 
bulky mud walls that surround the Temple, the 
homes of Brigham and his followers, although built 
in a primitive style and under many disadvantages, 
as the materials and conveniences, were at the period 
of their erection limited and had to be supplied from 
long distances, j^et these countless round stones, laid 
in beds of mud have weathered the storms and the 
cruel wear and tear of time. 

We find among the masses of the city, a mysteri- 
ous and superstitious expansion of imagination in 
regard to the Prophet's works, which are revered by 
them with a certain sacredness, that is a secure sen- 
tinel of protection to those of a destructive turn of 
mind. 

The Zion Co-operative Mercantile store, the 
great centre of Mormon bargaining, where every 
thing may be bought from a steam engine to a 
boot-jack, occupies a large building and seems to be 
in a thriving and prosperous condition. 

The old homes of Mormons who have passed the 
great divide can be readily recognized driving through 



30 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

the city, as thej^ are all built double and of the same 
Mormon mudaichitecture, two story, the door entering 
in the centre of the front. What a history these homes 
could unfold, in their prosperous periods of freedom. 
Talk of the quills of the fretful porcupine! Picture 
that little winged Cupid's occupation shooting 
with unerring aim, lover poisoned armor, propelled 
with the tender power of a spider's web, and piercing 
its victims with the vigorous strength of a giant. 

Standing amid this destruction of womanly hopes, 
burried sorrows, beautiful charms, golden ringlets en- 
circling snowy necks, crimson cheeks, the swelling 
of the bosom as passion and expectation jostle each 
other in the hot brain, doubts and fears, jealousy and 
envy, cunning and diplomacy, fanned by the lover's 
hot breath, suffocating disappointment, suffering of 
mortality, withered hearts, deformities of age, and 
then indelibly stamped upon the mind a sad picture 
of the frailties of human life. 

We continue our journey west-ward to Ogden 
the terminus of the Rio Grande Western Railroad, 
and the beginning of the Southern Pacific, follow- 
ing the shore of the Great Salt I^ake over the bound- 
less stretches of sand of the great American Desert, 
with nothing to hold communion with the sky, strug- 
gling sage bushes, and the cactus plants, which with 
their prickly protection in spite of the scorching sun 
continue to thrive in rebellious thrift. It seemed as 



AND HOME AGAIN, 3 1 

you could hear the plants breathing in their laborious 
growth, see them rising in their stinted impotency 
in search of the sun, and the refreshing morning dew- 
drops. We cross the dreary waste, and entering 
Nevada, the face of the country changes, great hills 
of rock that are gradually crumbling into dust and 
forming great and perfect looking elephant backs, 
bare of vegetation, as the pate of the ball head sit- 
ting in the front row of the orchestra chairs in a 
crowded theatre, where short skirts and low down 
shame dresses form the undisguised and forcible ulu- 
latory plot of intrigue acting. 

Further on, j^outhful vegetation begins to appear, 
until the hills are brilliantly crazy quilted with a 
growth of wild flowers of every hue, each little un- 
folding bud and flower striving to out-shine its next 
neighbor, wasting their fragrance on the desert air. 

Entering California, we come to the foot hills of 
the Sierra Nevada mountains. The sight of trees 
and green grass again cover the rolling country and 
is very welcome to the weary traveler. Gradually 
we ascend the mountains, passing through seventy 
miles of snow sheds, at times barricaded in snow, 
throwing a mantel of darkness around as heavy as 
midnight; as we slowly wind our course through 
a labyrinth of tunnels of solid rock. 

Reaching the summit we stop for lunch, the 
entire .'country is covered with snow, as we return 



32 WESTWARD RAMBI.INGS 

from lunch one of our newly made companions, in- 
quire, if we have seen the great red mountain bat 
imprisoned in front of the hotel: pressing our way- 
through the anxiously waiting crowd, to be enter- 
tained, approached with trembling hand and raised 
the artistic white and carefully adjusted curtain 
only to find a large red brick-bat portrayed in black 
paint to represent a red bat. This is one of the 
many jokes that haunt the station for the enter- 
tainment of the tourists. We descend through the 
snow sheds into the open country of the beautiful 
Sierra Nevada valley into Sacramento City, the cap- 
ital of the state. We slopped at the West House an 
odd decayed and uninviting place, where we did not 
feed on quail and manna. The Capital is a fine, stately 
granite structure patterned after the capital at Wash- 
ington, enclosed with charmingly laid-out grounds, 
plentifully ornamented with trees, palms, flowers 
and shrubs. 

In the morning we journeyed Southward through 
a new country with varied scenery to Berenda, ar- 
riving about four o'clock in the afternoon of a hot 
June day. A town mostly composed of air, we sur- 
rendered ourselves to the diminutive, but proudly 
named Hotel Berenda. The boarders seemed more 
servants to Bacchus, than Venus, flesh or vegetables. 
No sleepy hollow chairs of comfort or pompadour 
sofas to relieve our somnolence. Tallow dips are 



AND HOMK AGAIN. 33 



brought into requisition to illuminate the darkness. 
Our belongings are stowed in the baggage room at 
the station, which serves as our dressing room, as 
there was no go-cart for removing baggage. The 
novelty of changing our wardrobe in a baggage room, 
playing hide and seek behind the great trunks, was 
not as convenient as it was ludicrous. As there was 
no train to take us to Raymond, we put in the after- 
noon resting very pleasantly. 

It being harvest time, the vast unfenced fields 
of golden grain, bright and clean as if it had been 
bleached, so light and brittle that a handful can 
be broken by hand power as if cut with a sharp 
knife, and rubbed between the palms of the 
hands into a powder, It only rains in this country, 
certain months in the year. The wheat is har- 
vested by reapers merely cutting off the heads of the 
stalks, which are carried by means of a revolving 
endless sheet to a cylinder, then to a fan through a 
spout to a platform, where two men receive it in 
sacks, which are sewed up and cast aside. All the 
time the ponderous machine is moving along. 
The mammoth harvester takes a swath of thirty feet 
wide and being drawn by thirty-four horses, the 
work is performed very rapidly and thoroughly mak- 
ing a complete finish as it moves along. 

Next morning June 20th, we take the train for 
Raymond, about twenty miles distant. I^ooking 



34 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

from the car windows, we are entertained by thous- 
ands of playful squirrels and hundreds of jack rabbits, 
sporting and skipping over the thinly clad fields. At 
Raymond, we stop at the Raymond Hotel, after an 
early dinner, stages holding twelve persons, drawn 
by four horses, receive the party. We make the 
start for the Yosemite Valley. Our stage contained 
ten passengers, the set out is brisk and almost excit- 
ing, and hopes run high for a social trip. But a few 
miles, like old father Eneas' wanderings, we are sur- 
rounded by a cloud. So we are not only enveloped, 
by the scorching rays of the sun, but by an abominal 
and unpleasant cloud of dust, that remains a close 
companion the entire day. Some of our foreign 
friends swore clear through the book, chapter after 
'Chapter, not omitting a single word. All wrapped in 
lap covers, that often made us wish we could take 
'.off our flesh and sit in our naked bones. 

The first lunch station found us looking like so 
*many fiour millers. After being relieved of our sur- 
plus covering, and giving vent to our disgust in 
sulphurous adjectives, and having taken a thorough 
ablution, and satisfying our appetites, a change of 
■horses, we enter the cloud again, journeying through 
the National Park, like a Turkish woman, with only 
•our eyes uncovered. In the distance, for an instant 
among the rocks we see a rare species of bird, called 
the Road-runner, somewhat resembling a very large 



AND HOME AGAIN. 35 

turkey, but gray in color. In tlie evening we arrive 
at the Wavona Hotel, a cool and delightful retreat 
among the mountains, where we spend the night. 
Next morning we resume our journey, each one oc- 
cupying strictly the same seat in the stage, so as to 
avoid any contention. The road improves and large 
pine trees cast their shadows across our path as we 
proceed. 

Passing the Government encampment of soldiers 
detailed to guard the Park, from the depredations of 
the hunter and sheep herder, notir.g with care the 
rules and regulations pasted on trees, which are 
rigidly enforced, we meander along the river and 
thence ascend the mountain side, observing great 
quantities of curious and valuable manzanita wood 
and the bunchy mistletoe. Arriving finally at the 
Stoneman House in the Yosemite Valley in the 
evening. 

The Valley is about eight miles long and one- 
half to a mile wide, and differs from others by the near 
approach of its walls running almost perpendicularly 
to great heights, and having little debris at their 
base. We enter the Valley from the mountain heights, 
zig-zagging down, making many shoit turns in the 
road, like a ship tacking against an ill wind. To the 
left are the Cascade Falls, pouring their shattered 
contents into the splintered hearts of the rocks, the 
sunlight kissing them, gleam like a sparkling shower 



36 WESTWARD RAM BIKINGS 

of molten silver. The Valle}^ seems like a huge 
trough, ground out of the rock during the glacier 
period. The mountain walls are carved out with 
many quarried recesses that exhibit new beauties as 
3^ou pass along. Everywhere is heard the ripple of 
waters, let loose from the icy fetters gamboling down 
the rocks in the gorgeous sunshine. 

Inspiration Point is reached over five . thousand 
feet above the level, and a panorama of sublime 
beauty lies before us. The first waterfall, we approach 
pouring over the side of the mountain, is the Bridal 
Veil, eight hundred and sixty feet high, the overflow 
forming three distinct 3^oung rivers. 

The Widow's Tears a short distance, a copious 
flow from the lachrymental fountain, lends strong 
evidences of saddened widowhood and a lacerated 
heart, as 3^ears and probabl}^ centuries have not di- 
minished the bitter overflow. 

Almost opposite are the graceful Virgin's Tears, 
unloading its joyous stream of youthful mirth, blush- 
ing in its naked well shaped ankles, wishing to be 
hurried back among the protecting crevices, in the 
rocks, giggling and laughing after its long airy flight, 
touching the disappointed world and only wishing to 
be put unstained and undefiled back into the deep 
sea. 

Awa}^ to the front hovers the sharpened heads of 
the Three Brothers, of solid rock, over seven thousand 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



37 



feet high, old and careworn. We pass under the 
shadow of Cathedral Rock with its lofty spires over 
five thousand feet, natural as if built by man, gor. 
geously framed in green pine. Then comes the chief 
of the Valley, the El Capitan, like a Chinese wall, 
overseven thousand feet high. Off in the distance 
isthe Capofl^iberty over seven thousand feet high. 
North Dome struggling for a position in the grand 
galaxy, is about the same height. 

To the left, a rumbling roar attracts our attention, 
as the trees and mountains clear the view, we behold 
a captivating spectacle. The Yosemite Falls, the 
foam and mist pouring down like rain, the dashing of 
the water as it comes with a sweet and swelling boom 
over the rock three thousand feet above, into the fal- 
len and crumbling rocks below seeking its hidden 
channels, rush shudderingly onward to the sea. 

Overhead among the heights is the homely 
Clouds Rest, the father of the Valley, mellowed by 
the friendly touch of time, and clothed in a shroud 
of eternal white. Under the shadows of this monster 
mountain is located the Stoneman House. 

Opposite are the Stair Steps Falls, stealing down 
the shelving rocks, playing fast and loose. To the 
left are the Ribbon Falls with its long narrow unbrok- 
en white stream, battling its way into the river 
Almost overhead is Glacier Point. Immediately 
back of the hotel, about half a mile, the walls of the 



3^ WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

Valley rise perpendicularly thousands of feet. Trails 
lead to the top, where are the Vernal and Nevada 
Falls and Mirror Lake which are visited on horseback. 

The overflow of these falls form the Merced Riv- 
er, rushing wildly over broken rocks, fallen trees, 
tearing itself away and leaping over every obstacle 
as it dashes down through the valley. 

This being the terminus, the stages leave in the 
morning for the return. At Inspiration Point a halt 
is called and after one great long retrospective gaze, 
the grand old valley with its geological monstrosities 
fades away behind the rocks and trees. The road, 
narrow and torturous, leads up the steep mountain 
among the tall pine trees, where the thick under- 
growth presents a safe retreat for bears and other wild 
animals. 

We reach Mariposa Grove, the home of the Big 
Trees, gigantic monsters, probably thousands of years 
old and hundreds of feet high. Grizzly Giant, the 
great captain of the grove, is wrinkled and aged, with 
heavy rough laj'ers of bark, and a true specimen of 
Sequoia Giganti, thirty three feet in diameter and 
over three hundred feet high, and so old, that its 
very heart is worn| hollow from the many years of 
service, drawing its nourishment up through great 
roots to supply its lofty altitude. Another specimen 
is twenty-eight feet in diameter, a living tree, a way 
cut through to admit our stage and four horses to pass 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



39 



along. The woods are full of these immense trees, 
which mark the age of this curious country's history. 

In due time we reach the Raymond, having 
shaken and left the dust from off our feet, but the 
walls of our intellect remain frescoed and illuminated 
with the rare and lofty landscapes of the princely 
beauty of the Yosemite Valley. 

Any one wishing to visit the Yosemite Valley, 
should make the start from San Francisco, and many 
inconveniences will be avoided. 



40 W ESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



V 

,/^T eight o'clock iu the evening we leave Berenda, 
q/J. for Fresno, arriving at twelve o'clock midnight, 
and change to a sleeper. The early morning finds ns 
on the Mojair> desert, a silent waste, resting in indo- 
lent repose, full of unproductiveness. At Mojai^o we 
take dinner, and after entering a more fertile countrj' 
arrive at Los Angeles in the afternoon, and stop at 
the Hollanbeck Hotel. Los Angeles is a beautiful 
city, having elegant banks and Safe Deposit Build- 
ings with all the modern conveniences, stately busi- 
ness blocks, charming homes surrounded with orange 
trees, pepper trees, palms and flowers. Electric cars 
penetrate to every part of the city and suburbs. 
Figuero and Adams are the principal streets for pal- 
atial private homes, fenced about by spacious grounds, 
overgrown with endless varieties of flowers, trees and 
shrubbery. The lavish manner in which the homes 
are built, constitute the very acme of comfort and ex- 
travagant beauty. Lovers of rest will find here more 
than they may even hope for in being attracted thither 
to enjoy its climate, its fruit and its flowers. Outlet 
to every kind of scenery and pleasure by land or sea. 



AND HOME AGAIN. 4I 

The old Spanish part of the town remains as in early 
times. The old mission church with its tower and 
bells, Chinatown, Joss House and curio shops are 
buildings and places that beguile the tourist of many 
hours of time and dollars of money. 

From Los Angeles we pass on to Pasedena, nine 
miles in the San Gabriel Valley. This entire town 
seems like a vast park of orange groves and flower 
gardens, the golden fruit and bright tinted roses 
forming a brilliant embroidery among the thick green 
foliage, that almost conceal the handsome villas, 
whose spires are shining marks of their whereabouts. 
The Raymond Hotel is a splendid plain structure on 
the distant hill to the South. A drive through the 
town discloses beautiful homes and ornamental lawns. 
We pass through San Barnadino, a thriving town, 
from which great trains of fruit are dispatched to every 
part of the country. Our next stop is Riverside, the 
new centre of a fruit region, the home of the Navel 
orange. We put up at the Glen House, situated among 
orange trees. Here we pluck our first succulent 
orange from the tree, rich in color and fit for the gods 
in taste. It is a paradise for orange groves, almonds, 
English waluts, figs and citron. The cactus and palms 
form a glowing picture never to be obliterated. The 
most beautiful drive in the world is said to be Mag- 
nolia Avenue, one hundred and fifty feet wide, bor- 
dered on either side by pepper and olive trees, and 



42 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

rows of palms, century plants and tropical bushes of 
ever}^ variety and of huge proportions. Miles of 
beautiful villas line the road and the air is redolent 
with the flavor of blossoms and fruits. Irrigation 
troughs meander in every direction conveying gurg- 
ling streamlets, which furnish the very sustenance of 
life to both tree and bush. 

We continue our journey Southward, the road 
winding through a flourishing country along the sea- 
coast, then at times turning inland among high rug- 
ged bluffs, then at times again to the coast. This 
portion of the country is full of romance and adventure 
somewhat clouded and obscure on account of its early 
settlement, pregnant with superstition. Old missions 
crumbling pillars and weather-stained crosses, now 
and then mark the country of unwritten history. We 
arrive at San Diego, June 23d, and are quickly driven 
to the Florence Hotel, situated on the heights in the 
suburbs, commanding a fine view of both the city and 
the Pacific Ocean. The grounds around the hotel 
are handsome and extensive; the gravelled walks and 
elaborate beds of flowers, tempt you to break one of 
the commandments. The air is delightfully soft and 
balmy, we find the city in an overwhelmingly panicky 
condition, every bank in the town, labelled closed, 
and the general surroundings wear the clothes of a 
Sunday in an Eastern village. 

Stores and corner fruit stands abound with cher- 
ries, apricots and oranges, in their choicest size, color 



AND HOME AGAIN. 43 



and flavor. A long tongue of land runs between San 
Diego and the ocean, forming a large and safe anchor- 
age for the shipping craft. On this strip of land is 
situated the Coronado Beach Hotel which is reach- 
ed by ferry boat across the bay, where a motor car 
awaits to carry you to the hotel. Here we spend 
Sunday June 25th. The hotel is a vast structure of 
piled up turrets, and unique chimneys, a great piece 
of wooded workmanship. Located on the sand wash- 
ed shores of the Pacific Coast; it is furnished with 
every convenience necessary for comfort and enter- 
tainment. It is said to be the largest hotel in the 
world. The surroundings are a marvel of wonder in 
natural and created beauty; great banks and long 
figured beds of solid roses and trailing vines covered 
with blossoms abound. There are miles of interest- 
ing drives and w^alks, w^here one can watch the in- 
coming long crested waves, that in their majestic 
sw^ell reach and perish on the snow white beach. 
Crowds are loitering in the parlors, and on the long 
circular verandas enjoying the spicy breezes in easy 
chairs. Lose your wife or sweatheart in the mazy 
labyrinth and it will be a puzzle to find her, we visit 
the ostrich farm, and also from the great iron pier, in 
true Walterrian fashion, cast his line, and catch the 
sly and cunning surf fish. 

Facing the entire length of the hotel, with its 
majestic roll, is the Pacific, a source of never ending 



44 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

delight, the sound of the beating swelling surf is a 
perpetual one. Gathering shells along the miles of 
shore, that are constantly being carried upward by 
the incoming waves. Bathing is an every day pas- 
time. The sunsets are beautiful, emblazoned in gold 
and crimson upon the clouds and mountains; the 
moonlight scenes reflected from the barren sands, the 
waves rolling to the pebbled shore, like banks of 
shining silver, after splashing and dying away in 
feathery spray, reaching high upon the shore only to 
be swallowed back in the ocean's deep embrace; the 
steamers gliding in the distance like an ebon black 
spectre; then at times the sublime frightful quiet, as 
we gaze upon the bright silvery path on the water, 
reflected by the moon. Within doors are such other 
adjuncts as usually ornament a first class watering 
resort, with its kind of lazy dreaming atmosphere of a 
a go as you please. 

From this Gem of the Ocean, we return to San 
Diego, thence to Los Angeles. From here many side 
trips may be made. We take the morning train for 
Santa Monica, seventeen miles to the seacoast, a 
summer resort. The electric cars run the entire 
length of the town ; we stop in a taxidermist store 
and examine the many beautiful specimens of the 
feathery tribe of both sea and land. Strolling along 
the shore, we seat ourselves in the pavillion watching 
the playful antics of the bathers. Our sporting fish- 



AND HOME AGAIN. 45 

erman betakes himself with hook and line to the 
great iron pier, with ponderous bait and smiling ex- 
pectations, and casts the hopeful line in the Pacific 
Ocean, and actually caught a surf fish, the largest 
caught up to that hour of the day. We wander along 
the shore to the Arcadia Hotel, with its vast flower 
beds, trees and shrubbery. 

Boarding the noon train for Rodondo Beach, we 
take dinner at the Rodondo Hotel. Rodondo Beach 
besides being a summer resort, is a place of some 
commercial importance, possessing an immense iron 
pier, which receives the railway cars, and dumps their 
freight by means of a mammoth derrick into the 
largest steamers. Here w^e witness the novel sight of 
ocean seining, casting and hauling in the well stocked 
net of oceanmackeral, a seemingly very dangerous 
industry, carried on among the wild and boisterous 
surf, but only playful amusement to the ventursome 
every day fisherman. We return to Los Angeles by 
afternoon train, and taking the evening train, arrive 
in San Francisco at nine o'clock in the morning of 
June 28th. We stop at the Palace Hotel, built 
around a spacious court, large enough for carriages 
to drive in and surrounded with marble coping and 
asphalt floors; potted plants ornament every part of 
the interior and verandas encircling the eight stories, 
are furnished in white and gold. San Francisco on 
account of its constantly threatened earthquakes, is 



46 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

mostly built of wood. Downtown many handsome 
stone and brick buildings are replacing the wooden 
structures. The city is hilly, but nicely laid out in 
broad avenues, and many private residences adoru 
conspicuous points. Nob Hill, the home of the mil- 
lionare is covered with handsome homes and orna- 
mented grounds. The Hopkins palatial residence, 
said to have cost a million dollars, a gift to the city, 
contains many fine paintings, statuary and rare curi- 
osities from foreign lands. A drive to the Golden 
Gate Park, presents many wild and varied scenes and 
every kind of flower the country produces, trees and 
boulders overspread the rolling hills. The Cliff 
House, high up on the rocky shore of the Pacific, af- 
fords a beautiful view of the country and ocean. A 
few hundred feet from the shore, hundreds of friskj^ 
sea-lions lie sleeping among the rocks, sunning them- 
selves, some splashing and sporting in the water. By 
care and kindness they have become somewhat do- 
mestic and some will venture to the shore for food. 
We dine at the Baldwin Hotel, and visit the Union 
Iron plants, the largest on the Pacific Coast, where 
we go aboard the battleship Oregon, now building at 
these works. 

A stroll through Chinatown by night with a 
guide, develops many curiosities and adventures. It 
is located in the heart of the city and numbers about 
thirty thousand. The habits and customs of the 



AND HOME AGAIN. 47 



Chinaman are vigorously observed and the stores, 
restaurants and Joss Houses are run day and night, 
in all their gaudy imported western style. Chinese 
theatre opens five o'clock, and closes twelve midnight. 
We enter about eleven o'clock, and our guide imme- 
diately ushered us behind the scenes among the actors, 
and actresses, among costumes, paint, and all colors 
of powder, with scanty gauze partitions of privacy 
for perfoimers. A chair was placed on the stage and 
we occupied a prominent place among the stage play- 
ers and orchestra of mixed music. Upwards of two 
thousand Chinamen and women occupied the seats and 
standing room, the women are partitioned off, unac- 
companied by any escort. During the seven hours of 
constant performing every one remains quiet and ab- 
sorbed in the play. Smoking was allowed and the 
fumes of tobacco and such other products which the 
Chinese indulge in were floating around in fantastic 
curling clouds. 

Every vice with which mankind is cursed, we 
find carried on in this imported town. Long dark 
narrow alleys and underground passages are stained 
with a history of foul murder committed by secret 
societies, and men banded together for revenge and 
plunder. Through gloomy stairways of little width, 
were men and women passing and repassing the entire 
night, down in deep and dismal cellars where curious, 
illicit and unlawful things are practiced. In a small 



48 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

dark room along one of these underground passages 
with no light, except a queer shaped oil lamp, in filth 
and rags, we were shown a case of decomposed leprosy, 
the flesh black and decayed and falling from the bones 
too vile to gaze upon. We are shown stores, where 
snails, dried skins, birds' nests, and such other deli- 
cacies as chinamen alone can relish, are in great 
plenty. We are introduced to the gold and silver 
workers, engaged in melting and carving rings, 
bracelets and all kinds of novel ornaments. We are 
also shown into the restaurants where the rich hold 
t^heir banquets, and where the poor can get a meal 
from one to five cents. We also take a look at the 
Joss House, where the big ugly god receives the poor 
degraded worshippers; besides their figured and 
carved blocks of wooden gods, are bowls of soup and 
eatables, water and towels to wash with, burning 
tapers of incense, and wooden figures as attendants to 
serve the wants of the god. Chinamen and tourists 
are walking the streets all night. 

We cross the San Francisco Bay on a large ferry- 
boat, a most beautiful sheet of water several miles 
wide, forming a secure harbor for loading and un- 
loading the vast fleet of sailing vessels and steamers 
at anchor. We reach Oakland, an airy city built on 
hills. The Pacific Railroad runs trains directly 
through the town free of charge, and long trains 
well filled are constantly coming and going. Oakland 



AND HOME AGAIN. 49 

is a quiet unpretentious place, where are located the 
homes of man}' people engaged in business in San 
Francisco. We spend Sunday July 2nd, in San Fran- 
cisco and worship at Grace Episcopal Church. The 
day is given to pleasure and a general good time; 
stores, theatres and saloons are run with open doors. 



50 WESTWARD RAMBI.INGS 



VI 

[h ROM San Francisco we turn our course Southward 
qA to the noted Monterey with its palatial Del Monte 
Hotel, the Paradise of the Pacific Coast. Much has 
been told and written, and a dictionary of superlatives 
exhausted describing this romantic spot. The very 
air is delicately sweet and daintily perfumed with 
delightful odors. The hotel is advertised in full 
portrait size in almost every hotel and railroad station 
west of Chicago, and all tourists are anxious to enjo}' 
its accomodations and hospitable tables. The stately 
front faces a grove of old pines and oaks, whilst 
the magnificent structure itself stands out boldly in 
its delicately tinted and gracefully finished outlines 
covered with flowers and trailing vines, perfuming 
the air with its fragrant odors. It is surrounded by 
one hundred and twenty six acres of garden of un- 
parallelled beaut}^, from the matchless care and atten- 
tion bestowed upon it. A maze or lab3^rinth covering 
acres of cypress hedges enclosing lonely narrow walks, 
like many other tempting amusements, is simple to 
stroll into, than when once in, to retrace one's steps. 
Two croquet grounds, one of asphalt, the other of 
sand in the form of an ellipse, surrounded with stone 



AND HOME AGAIN. 51 



curbing, tennis courts under the thick shade trees, 
walks and drives, boating and fishing, are diversions 
and games provided by the management for its guests. 
Within the hotel, are billiard parlors for ladies and 
gentlemen, bowling alley, spacious ball-rooms, airy 
parlors and reception rooms. This paradise of beau- 
tiful flowers and man)^ mansions, has its angels and 
archangels, floating around in its feathery robes and 
costly dresses more displaying than concealing, with 
glittering jewels and bewitching eyes. The archan- 
gels with their arrow shaped wings and smooth silky 
head-gear are lazily lounging around in easy chairs 
and shady groves, living on ambrosia and nectar. 
We notice many of the female angels have an assum- 
ed reddish colored hair, part of it as if worked on a 
very fine bait fish-net, that looks not unlike in color 
to a substance that we observed some of the male 
angels carried in a flask in their hip pockets and at 
intervals placed to their lips. 

We drive around the peninsula, a distance of 
seventeen miles, byway of the odd town of Monterey, 
founded by the Spaniards many years ago, which is 
quietly dreaming in the bright sunshine of genera- 
tions gone and forgotten. The country abounds with 
large wooden crosses and pillars planted by Catholic 
priests and missionaries. Here also the old missions 
and custom houses can still be seen. We ramble 
through a park of seven thousand acres, having good 



52 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

roads, and forests of oak and pine, bordering along 
the grand old Pacific, with its rugged rock-boiind 
shore, whose silver breakers chase one another upon 
the sand, dashing their spra}^ high in the air. The 
soft winds moan among the trees, as we hurry along, 
the road leading through a cypress grove, peculiar 
only to this country, stretching their long roots 
around the rocks, with their foliage drooping to the 
ground. Two trees in the distance form a perfect 
picture of two ostriches, face to face. Back in the 
deep shadows of the forest, hard by the shores of the 
bay, where white sails are pressing against the winds 
we see at intervals steamers leaving a long black trail 
of smoke in their wake against the horizon as they 
fly away to some foreign port. 

We stop to examine a marine exhibition under 
a canvas tent, displaying all the rare curiosities that 
inhabit the surrounding waters. We pass by joyous 
bands in tally-ho coaches and open carriages on their 
way to the Del Monte. The evening entertains us 
with a full dress ball. 

The morning ushers in the Fourth of July; we 
greatly enjoy the patriotic music, and the shady 
walks, a few games of croquet, arid the easy chairs on 
the porches of the Hotel, admiring in them the pass- 
ing panorama usually seen at such resorts. The pure 
atmosphere is delicately perfumed with an admixture 
of roses, mignonette, heliotrope, zephyrs of salt air, 



AND HOME AGAIN. 53 



and foams of sweet music. Fathers and mothers with 
happy smiles, caressing the pleasures enjo3^ed by 
the youthful boy, as he celebrates the day in his 
childish, peaceful and at times warlike antics. 

On the morning of the fifth, w^e start northward, 
and visit Santa Cruz, a veritable seaside resort. In 
the absence of any vehicle, we take the electric car, 
and pass through the centre of the town to the termi- 
nus, where we are amused, with rocky shores and 
several cunning monkeys. On our return we take in 
the hotel and beach, with its crowd of bathers in 
bright and scant}" suits. Much coquetting under 
great Japanese umbrellas, planted in the sand oblique- 
ly to hide the secret elbowing and youthful affections 
blooming like a bed of spring rose buds, digging holes 
in the sand, forming graves of buried sentiment, are 
noticable. It was the same old museum of monstros- 
ities, the overgrown woman and undersized bo}^ 
mothers with marriageable daughters, cracking the 
same old jokes, in the same old acts, painted and 
powdered, and with bleached and steamed hair and 
complexion. The various costumes and the careless- 
ness of the females in unfolding their charms. The 
band played, the old women jabbered, and every 
third girl had a boy. Here again we see those who 
are getting old looking, hunting up the echoes of 
their decayed youth, whilst mothers are searching 



54 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

anxiously for eligible sons-in law, mucli the same as 
turning over a job lot on the bargain counter. 

We reach San Jose, situated in the beautiful 
Santa Clara Valley and stop at the Hotel Vendome. 
San Jose can boast of wide streets, beautiful homes 
and every species of flower, so numerous that one be- 
comes astonished by their wild luxuriance. 

Next morning we start for Mount Hamilton, 
twent3^-six miles distant, passing through a beautiful 
country, checkered with orchards of every variet}^ of 
fruit. Winding around and around the mountain, we 
arrive at the summit, where is located the Lick Obser- 
vatory, holding the largest telescope in the world, 
poised in a bee-hive like building, a marvel of solidi- 
ty, to protect it from the encroaching frost and winter 
storms. The telescope has the appearance of the 
great Krupp gun at the World's Fair at Chicago. A 
porter is in constant attendance, and explains the 
workings of this mammoth piece of intricate work- 
manship. The secrets of the moon and stars are 
pictured on the walls, and a little instrument for 
taking the dimensions of an accidental masquerading 
earthquake are shown us. 

James Lick, the founder of this immense pile of 
brick and iron, lies buried at the base of the great 
dome, a conspicuous tombstone, worthy of this gigan- 
tic and successful enterprise. The road leading from 
San Jose to the summit was built at a cost of seventy- 



AND HOME AGAIN. 55 



five thousand dollars. Only on Saturday nights are 
visitors permitted to peep through the telescope. 

Next day again finds us in San Francisco resting 
at the Palace Hotel; we dine at the New California 
Hotel and call on some friends. 

Starting northward, we again cross the great bay 
to Oakland, and board the train in the evening twilight 
and in a little while are transported across an arm of 
the bay on a huge sailing transfer. 

The morning finds us among mountains and 
beautiful valleys. The many fine landscapes become 
monotonous by reason of a succession of similar ob- 
jects. We pass Castle Craig, and great piles of rock 
rising like great Cathedral spires. We stop at Mount 
Shasta Springs, sufficiently long for all who wish, to 
drink of its pure water. Mount Shasta keeps us com- 
pany with its loft}^ eternal snow-capped summit, 
awa3^high above its many neighbors. 

The rugged sides of the passing mountains are 
constantly draped with vegetation, trees and rocks. 
We cross the line into Oregan, with its thick forests 
of pines and beautiful landscapes. We spend the 
greater part of the da3^ in an observation car and 
whilst discussing the beauties of the scenery, we are 
suddenly interrupted and saddened b}^ the complete 
wreck of two freight trains trying to pass each other 
on a single track; and such a wreck, cars splintered 
into tooth-picks, car loads of empty bottles scattered 



56 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

around on the green grass, cars piled upon one anoth- 
er like 5^oung mountains. The winds moan a sad 
requiem and the clouds shed little drops of tears for 
the brave trainmen, who perished in the accident. 
Arriving on time at Portland, we drive to the Hotel 
Portland. This is a beautiful cit3^ situated on the 
Willamette River. We spend Sunday looking over 
the town, with its wide streets and imposing build- 
ings. Ascending the heights which overlook this 
beautiful city, and the magnificent surrounding 
country, a veritable picture gallery is laid open to 
our view, notably the picturesque river, with its 
forest of masts and sails stretching out in the distance, 
and the towering mountains whose crests are covered 
with snow. 

At Portland we change to the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, and going northward across the Columbia 
River, by running the entire train on a railway trans- 
fer. We arrive at Tacoma in the evening of July ii, 
and find shelter at the Hotel Tacoma on the shores 
of Puget Sound. We spend the evening on the spac- 
ious veranda listening to the music. In the morning 
we overlook the town in an electric car. The city is 
built on high bluffs, from the heights of which one 
ma}^ gaze over the far distant city, in this far off 
country, and think of the great v/orld of progress, in 
planting civilization and decking the great sea of 
water with the white sails of ocean rovers plying in 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



57 



the coast-wise trade and between points in the far 
off frozen Alaska. 

Climbing the steep hills, on whose terraced sides 
we find beautiful homes, well kept lawns, adorned with 
trees of blossoming rose buds and mignonette. We 
saw and purchased large roses which compared favor- 
ably with a good sized dinner plate. Stalks grow 
more like young trees, the soil being apparently well 
adapted for the growth of flowers and fruits. Straw- 
berries are as plentiful as the sand on the sea shore. 
Eight large boxes were selling for twenty-five cents. 
Here one finds berries measuring from four to nine 
inches in circumference, growing in such wonderful 
abundance and the prices are so very lov/, that the 
owners of the patches are not justified in paying for 
the picking, in consequence of which, vast quantities 
are uncared for, and left to rot and waste on the 
fields. 

While in this far away city, a circus visited it, 
and entertained the people with the usual street 
parade, glittering in an embroidery of trappings and 
paraphernalia, rendering the small boy happy, de- 
lighting mothers with their babies in their arms, and 
seemingly attracting the whole population to the 
pavements. After viewing the band wagon, knights 
on horseback, ponies, clowns, and the usual advertis- 
ing tail end, we board an electric car to go wherever 
chance may lead; away far off in the country among 



58 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



the thick forests. At the terminus a walk of a quart- 
er of a mile brings us to the plant of a large smelting 
establishment, which we thoroughly investigate- 
Long trains of cars of silver ore, some in bulk, others 
in^acks, stretch out before us. On reaching the up- 
permost stor)^ where the ore and coal are collected, 
we see broken rocks tumbled into a fiery furnace. 
Ascending to the lowermost regions of the building 

where it was as hot as a Summer's day, we behold 

the bright shining silver, hurrying out as if anxious 
to circulate its value and reveal its hidden beauty, 
run into iron moulds and heaped up like piles of 
cord wood. Retracing our steps up the big stony 
hillside, we go on board a car and go to the extreme 
other end of the town, to the Northern Pacific car 
shops. 

There is something shivering and exciting, and 
at at times almost startling to the traveller, away off 
in this distant and lonely region, still yet, new and 
undeveloped, riding or driving in the thick dark 
woods, invested on all sides with the unexpected. 
You can almost picture the form of a bear, mountain 
lion or the echo of the wild war whoop of the red- 
skin. 

Next morning we start for Victoria and Van 
Couver's Island and are aboard the steamer by seven 
o'clock. We touch at Seattle, a thriving city among 
the hills and steaming along through Puget Sounds 



AND HOME AGAIN. 59 



amid rocks and islands, penetratino^ through long 
hills and mountains of virgin pine and oak, the 
steamer ploughing through the calm and unruffled 
water, renders it a most delightful trip. We arrive 
at Victoria in the afternoon, and after, being manipu- 
lated by Custom House officers, land on British soil. 
On entering the harbor, the red coats occupy com- 
manding points to guard home interests. The town 
is odd, and shows traces of rough usage. We hire a 
carriage, and drive over the entire place. The chief 
points of interest, are a park of youthful age and size, 
with its swans and ducks, the Governor's mansion, 
and a few handsome castles, and old historic land- 
marks. While a trip to Victoria is not resplendent 
with excitement, it is a pleasant relief to change from 
the limited room in a pullman, to the spacious deck of 
a steamer. 

We arrive at Tacoma next morning about nine 
o'clock and climbing the big hill, breakfast at the 
Pacific Hotel. In the evening, we take the train for 
Spokane, passing through dense forests, at times 
almost impenetrable, over innumerable streams of 
water and swamps formed by the melting snow on the 
distant mountains, and through green fields looking 
fresh in their primitive wildness, only awaiting the 
plow of the husbandman to tickle the rich soil and 
make it laugh with a plentiful and abundant harvest. 



6o WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

Reaching Spokane, we stop at the Spokane 
House. Life seems togo easy, and is delightful in 
this city of fifteen thousand inhabitants. The morn- 
ing opening bright, we take a trip to Minnehaha 
Springs, a pleasure-ground laid out for pic-nics and 
Sunday recreation. The Spokane Falls, whence the 
city takes its name come dashing down as if from the 
distant clouds, over great rocks at a rapid foaming 
speed, and present a beautiful spectacle from the high 
bridge overlooking them. 



AND HOME AGAIN. 6l 



VII 

A Y/E leave Spokane, in the morning, and a little 
»/ ^ while later cross the slender handle of Idaho. 
Stations are few and at long intervals, we cross over 
into the big state of Montana. Every station has its 
straggling Indians awaiting arrival of the trains, de- 
corated with beads, slippers and polished cattle and 
buffalo horns for sale. At Massonli one observes the 
wild and yet uncivilized Indian, in his fantastic get- 
up, crouching on the station platform, the real live 
Indians, squaw and their entire outfit, with feathers 
and paint, in their copper colored fierceness. Their 
tents of skin, from which issue curling smoke, creep- 
ing out between the poles, the squaw with her pap- 
poose strapped on her back or resting against the tree, 
the lazy buck smoking his long pipe in idleness, all 
the while wearing an appearance, which betrays his 
secret savage nature. 

We arrive at Helena about nine o'clock in the 
evening; the station a mile from the city, taking the 
electric car and are rapidly whirled into the city, stop 
at Hotel Helena. Helena is a thriving town, full of 
life, located on rolling hills, around and even under- 



62 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 



neatli the city, are said to be vast mining interests. 
A few miles from the city is located the Broadwater 
Hotel, right back of the Helena mountain, and is 
reached by electric cars. The hotel is beautifully lo- 
cated, a two-storied cottage like structure, with an 
endless arra}^ of porches and graceful towers, surround- 
ed b}^ ornamental grounds; close by is erected a twin 
towered Natatorium of Moorish st3de, said to be the 
largest swimming pool in the world. Its dimensions 
are three hundred feet long, by one hundred feet wide, 
the hot water falling in cascades over large rocks and 
then emptying into the pool. The entire length and 
breadth is spanned by great iron arches, thirty to 
forty feet high, forming a dome-like roof. Around 
the whole building are circular windows with colored 
glass, casting a soft and refulgent light upon the bath- 
ers. The pool is from three to ten feet deep as you 
advance, the temperature of the water is at places hot, 
and others a delightful warm, according to the dis- 
tance where it bubbles up from the hot spring. For 
the more frisky bathers are provided floating horses 
of wood, hallow balls and boxes, and such other 
treacherous articles of amusement to exercise the skill 
of the expert and active swimmer and diver, frequent- 
ly affording great amusement to the spectators. We 
leave Helena, Sunday July i6th and after passing 



AND HOME AGAIN. 63 



through a dry dusty country by night, arrive at Iviv- 
ingston and stop at the Albemarle House. 

Next morning we take the train for Cinebar, fifty- 
one miles distant, which passes through a wild and 
mountainous country, stretching along the Yellow- 
stone River. On the route, the Devil's Sliding Board 
is pointed out, a long broad smooth passage extend- 
ing from the gap at the top of the mountain down to 
its very base, wears the appearance of constant usage. 

Cinebar is the entrance to the Yellowstone Park, 
which is situated among the grim and towering Rock}^ 
Mountains. In Yellowstone Park, the Government 
has presejited to the people a National Park, the like 
of which is said to be unequalled in the world. It is 
located in Northwestern Wyoming and touches the 
states of Montana and Idaho. The Park is about 
sixty-five miles long^ and fifty-five miles wide. 
Travellers report there is yet much outside, that is 
wonderful and interesting and at some future day the 
government will add a vast area to its present pos- 
sessions. It is a country made up of a combination 
of the extraordinary and terrible. Nature hiding 
away her powers and unfolding her matchless sur- 
prises in the shape of geysers and countless hot springs, 
as well as affording a most lavish exhibition of beau- 
tiful scenery. 

From Cinebar, we stage seven miles to the Mam- 
moth Hot Springs Hotel in the Park. The large hot 



64 WESTWARD RAM BUNGS 

springs are built to a height of twenty to thirt}^ feet 
of a succession of piled up terraces, and are continu- 
ally being raised by the constant deposits of the over- 
flow. The terraces are colored in white, orange and 
brown, a work of beauty, like great heaps of fine 
lace- work wrought, by the most artistic hand. You can 
look deep down into the clear blue hot springs, and 
distinctly see the beautiful spray embroidered and or- 
namented structure around whose edges are frequent- 
1}^ a variety of colors. Close by are two large spires 
or chimneys — spent geysers, one named the Liberty 
Cap, the other, the Devil's Thumb. We visit the 
Devil's Kitchen, thirty to fort}^ feet deep, and about 
a dozen of us descend to the subterannean cavern by 
means of a dilapidated wooden ladder. Evidently it 
is an extinct hot spring, the presence of hot vapor and 
sulphurous gases discourages extensive explorations) 
whilst closer proximit}^ to its murky diabolical sur- 
roundings stimulates a quick desire to give a wider 
berth to his satanic majesty and to betake ourselves 
very hastily to the outer world. Crossing the great 
Elephant's Back, we return to the hotel. 

Uncle Sam has here regular military barracks, 
well supplied with cavalry; in fact all through the 
park, the blue coat meets and shadows you to every 
point of interest, promptly correcting the slightest 
depredation, whilst scouts are employed to roam over 
the entire park. The rules and regulations are very 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



strict and are rigidl}^ enforced, by immediate arrest 
and relegation beyond the line. 

Next morning we prepare for the seven days' 
trip. Everybody is registered and seats are adjusted. 

All rire on a lookout for notables and distinguish- 
ed tourists, as both natives of our own countr^^ and for- 
eigners are continually going and coming. The first 
stage with four spanking horses contained Hoke 
Smith, Secretary of the Interior and family, compris- 
ing with friends seventeen persons. Next stage, 
Monsigneur SatoUi, bishops, priests and professors. 
Next a jolly load of American and Cuban bachelors, 
and thus at intervals of fifteen minutes a stage was 
loaded and dispatched. Nine stages started on the 
morning of the 1 8th of July. Every driver holds his 
post and passengers keep their exact seats in the stage 
throughout the entire journey. Each stage accomo- 
dates twelve to tvv^enty passengers. 

With the crack of the whip and the waving of 
farewells, we are off. Around the white terraces of 
the Mammoth Hot Springs with their hot steam and 
sulphur fumes, soon we are w^hirled and buried among 
the piled up rocks hurled and broken by the action of 
heat and water into all conceivable shapes, with the 
river deep down on one side and the perpendicular 
mountains on the other. Immediately in front, like 
a monument of heaped up rocks in the middle of the 
road, but leaving sufficient room by cautious driving 



66 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

to pass between two rocky pillars, we enter the Golden 
Gate of the Yellowstone Park. The construction of 
the road is a marvel of engineering skill and ingenuity, 
here passing through solid rock, there hugging the 
brink of the rapid river, whilst further on the sides of 
the mountain are cut away just wide enough for a 
single stage to pass along, then again in some places 
stretching through green praries, in others hemmed 
in on all sides by snow-covered mountains, a little 
distance from the road, great piles of snow yet re- 
main presenting a charming scene of beauty. To the 
left of the road are the Obsidion ClifT:^, a peculiar 
opaque formation of volcanic glass two hundred and 
fifty feet high, glittering in the bright sunshine; part 
of the roadway is built of this glassy material, said to 
be the only piece of glass road in the world. During 
the Indian reign, it was considered neutral ground, 
the glass being used to make arrow heads. Beaver 
I^ake, the first large sheet of water, appears on the 
right. A large beaver house is shown on the oppo- 
site side in the lake, and the beavers are sporting 
among the bushes on the banks. Beautiful boiling 
hot springs, raise their heads along the roadside, and 
among them is one representing the morning glorj-, a 
most perfect colored formation of tliat earl}- morning 
bloomer. 

Norris Geyser is reached fur lunch, where the 
noisy comical minstrel, "Irish Larry," acts as end 



AND HOME AGAIN. 6"] 

man during the partaking of refreshments . The hotel 
had been destroyed by a carelessly and hastily built 
fire, by hunters, and a large canvas tent was set up 
to furnish a place for a dining room. After lunch, 
our party and others, leave the station in advance of 
the stages, and explore the country along the road. 
The sun is very hot, and vapor surrounds us on all 
sides, and the white formation is constantly kept so 
bright and shining from the overflow of boiling water, 
as to render it exceedingly painful to the eyes, and 
smoked glasses are employed to soften the dazzling 
glare. All trees and vegetation within the embrace 
of these poisonous eruptions and eniissions soon suc- 
cumb. Little and big geysers where least expected, 
first here, and then there, are encountered, throwing 
up their hot bubbling water. Every turn in the road 
develops some new entanglement. Among the great 
geysers is the monarch, a most terrible, contortuous 
green lipped looking monster, which was in a state 
of inactivity, although at certain periods of the year it 
violently ejects immense quantities of boiling froth- 
ing water. 

While some are sitting quietly beneath the scan- 
ty shade of a dying pine tree, and others gasping for 
breath under umbrellas, a hissing boiling noise alarms 
us. As it is a region that impresses you with sudden 
surprises and dangers, and as most every one has 
heard of some fatal and sad misfortune which has hap- 



68 V^TESTWARD R AMBLINGS 



pened on previous trips to the tourist we are on the 
alert, and shortly the first sight of a geyser in full 
action, throwing up water and steam forty to fifty feet 
high; the overflow is short lived, the greater portion 
of the water falls back again into the subterranean 
cavern, and gradually disappears below the surface. 
Along come the stages, and all are glad, as the sun 
is very powerful, and all around us is gas and spra\% 
The country seems to be made up of thin coatings 
of white lime which resounds a dangerous hollowness 
to the footsteps, and thus great care must be exercis- 
ed, otherwise sad and often fatal accidents befall the 
tourist. 

Whilst at Norris Geyser Basin, a great conflagra- 
tion broke out, through campers having thoughtlessly 
set the forest on fire. Miles of blazing pine trees 
could be seen thrusting their fiery tongues above other 
trees, creating immense banks of black smoky clouds, 
which entirely obscured the rays of the sun. It was 
a frightful, though wonderfully grand sight, as 'he 
flames gradually crawling towards the lunch station, 
which is now all bustle and confusion. A fire of this 
dimension is not easil}^ quenched, remote from all 
modern fire departments, and extinguishers, feeding, 
as it does, upon such inflammable material. Soldiers 
and horseman were running and riding in every direc- 
tion to sta}^ its progress, and only after miles of de- 



AND HOME AGAIN. 69 



struction, were the devastating flames satisfied with 
their destruction. 

As we drive along, we are greeted b}^ constant 
puffs of steam from the hot springs dotting the road- 
side, and now and then by a ge3'ser in full action, can- 
tering the horses at times through the hot water. A 
halt is called and several stages assemble, and alight- 
ing, all walk to a beautiful spring in a shady grove, 
they call it the Appollinaris Spring and producing our 
cups allay our thirst. 

In a little while we approach a section of country 
fitly named ''Hells Half Acre," the skeleton trees, 
with leafless and long, sunburnt, bony looking, 
branches, immutably planted in the treacherous for- 
mation, which completely roofs over the secret and 
mysteriously writhing interior abode of torture, whose 
powers for mischief are only bridled by nature's hid- 
den hand. The atmosphere is oppressively saturated 
with vile nauseous gas, and steam and sulphurous 
odors, in which the incorrigible spectres seem delight- 
fully and contentedly revelling. In the midst of this 
demoralizing and and murk}^ disturbance, is located 
the Caaba of the park, the Great Kxcelsior Geyser, 
the largest in the park, over three hundred feet in 
length, and two hundred feet in width, a seething, 
boiling terror to look upon, surrounded Vvdth a treach- 
erous hem, that to step upon it is to be roasted and 
boiled alive. At long intervals this horrible chasm 



70 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

lacerates the air with a colossal mound of piled up water 
intermingled with stones, mud and such other discard- 
ed rubbish that the lapse of time might expect from the 
Spring and Fall house cleaning. The environs are not 
of a fascinating character to the tourist, so that when he 
receives an invitation to move along, the fate of Lot's 
wife begins to materialize and curiosit}^ gives way to 
a desire to charge your heels with electricity. Close 
by is Mirror Lake. In the same vicinity is the singu- 
lar Turquois Hot Spring, very much resembling that 
odd jewel. 

Entering the Lower Geyser Basin, forty miles 
long, we put up at the Fountain Hotel, which we reach 
about four o'clock in the afternoon, and after having 
regaled ourselves with an early supper, the entire 
party start out to see the sights. Acres of strange 
white formation, in their solitude and barrenness, are 
Spread out before us, dotted here and there with 
groups of from five to ten travelers. The country is 
diversified with curious little mounds of coping, like 
precious stones set in the earth, differing in form 
and color, from which the escaping steam rises, as if 
the entire country was one vast manufacturing city. 
A few minutes walk brings us to the Fountain Geyser, 
about thirty feet in diameter, the eruptions occurring 
every two hours and continuing to play with great 
force from ten to fifteen minutes. Some of the jets 
ascend forty to sixty feet, and form a perfect picture 



AND HOME AGAIN. 7 1 

of a mammoth fountain, producing a memorable spec- 
tacle. A short distance further on are located the 
peculiar and strange looking Paint Pots or boiling 
mud caldrons, in a space from fifty to seventy feet in 
diameter. In these great pots is a mass of fine mortar 
substance, portions of it being red, pink, brown, and 
white, which is in a constant state of action, frequent- 
ly making it interesting, if perchance it falls on the 
hand or face, as you shake it off with a jerk as sudden 
as though you had come in contact with the business 
horn of a wasp. The park contains buffalo, elk, 
moose, bears and many varieties of wild animals, hid- 
den av\^ay in the mountains, covered with thick w^oods 
and tangled undergrowth. Rumor tells us that in a 
large hot spring in the mountain may be seen the 
bleached skeleton of an immense buffalo, having in 
its hurried flight from the hunter, sought refuge in 
the spring; also that a playful pet dog, leaped into a 
hot spring after a "cast into" stick and instantly dis- 
appeared from sight. In the evening, the entire party 
walked to the back of the hotel, on the borders of a 
thick woods to watch for the bears which prowl 
around the kitchen door about twilight in search of 
discarded table remnants, but as they did not appear, 
we ventured the conjecture, that the big crowd put 
the bearship on their guard, being keen of eye to 
suspect, and acute of ear to sniff danp;er from afar. 



72 WESTWARD R AMBLINGS 

Leaving Fountain Hotel, we continue our jour- 
ney Southward. This is a very interesting part of 
the country. The Firehole River drains the valley, 
whilst streaming hot springs and geysers are plenti- 
ful on every side and at any moment a sharp turn in 
the road, may entertain you with a sheet of water for 
five or ten minutes. 

The Upper Geyser Basin contains the grandest 
and mightiest geysers. Arriving at the Lunch 
Station, we satisfy our appetites, and then lounging 
around wearil^^ smoking, as we seek a few moments 
repose, seated in very uncomfortable straight back 
chairs. The very eaith seems to tremble, and strange 
rumbling sounds vvere frequently heard, as if great 
sheets of water v/ere surging to and fro, while the air 
was impregnated with sulphur causing every one to 
complain of sore lips and noses. 

Crossing the river on a narrow plank with a hand 
rail, some one calls out Old Faithful is playing. A 
few hundred feet ahead of us, this ever faithful gey- 
ser which performs its part every sixty-three minutes, 
fallfils its promise by throwing out a mantle of hot 
water and steam one hundred and fifty feet high. 
Old Faithful is a great favorite with the tourist, and 
many hotels and offices are decorated with its portraits 
in full dress uniform. 

We are now amoag the gej^sers, great and small, 
here we find the Bee Hive Geyser, so called on ac- 



AND HOME AGAIN. 73 

count of its resembling that structure, and when in 
motion discharges a sheet of water to an altitude cf 
two hundred and twenty feet, then on the elevation 
stands the Giant Ge3^ser, which casts forth its entire 
contents instantly flooding all around it. Then 
again the Sponge Geyser is pointed out, bearing as it 
does a marked similarity to that commercial article 
both in color and formation; farther on we see the 
Ivion, and Lioness, and Cubs Ge^^sers, some of which 
are in action. The Castle Ge3^ser, whose coping rises 
like an old delapidated structure and is the happy 
possessor of the largest coping in the region. 

In the afternoon we return to the Fountain Hotel, 
where we spend the night as there are no accommo- 
dations at the Lunch Station. 

In the morning we take the same route again, 
revisiting the home of Old Faithful and his compan- 
ions. Wearrive as he is in full activity, and after a 
change of horses, we proceed on our way, across the 
Continental Divide. A roaring of waters breaks upon 
our ears, and soon we reach the Kepler Falls, and 
then come to Thumb Bay of the Yellowstone Lake, 
which resembles a hand, whose thumb is represented 
by this point. It is a beautiful spot, the lake expand- 
ing out before you as far as the eye can reach. Around 
the place are numerous hot springs a.id interesting 
Paint Pots. One large hot spring is only a few feet 
from the lake, and standing upon the siiore one can 



74 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

catch tnoiit, and dropping them into the boiling 
spring, cook them without removing the hook. This 
being a lunch Station, refreshments are served under 
a canvas tent, from long wooden tables, surrounded 
by long wooden benches. Many of the party com- 
plain of being sick on account of drinking the cooled 
hot spring water or the coffee made from the same. 
A steamer runs from this point to the Lake Hotel 
so that those who wish, for an extra fare and having 
a preference to ride over unknown depths of hot 
springs, can enjoy a voyage by water. We remain 
by the stages. After a change of horses, we start, 
hugging the shore of the lake, and after a pleasant 
drive, reach the hotel about five o'clock in the after- 
noon. At night a party of us charter the steamer 
and make a moonlight excursion on the Yellowstone 
Lake, returning at midnight. In the morning we 
again take the stages, and are whirled along a road 
leading through a rolling country. We stop long 
enough to examine the Mud Geyser, about thirty feet 
in depth, formed by mud being ejected from below, 
through a hollow cave-like opening under a large 
rock from which repulsive leaden colored masses of 
thick mud is constantly belched out, accompanied by a 
dull murmuring noise as it forces up the mud and 
then swallowing the entire greasy contents in an 
instant only to again eject iL 



AND HOME AGAIN. 



75 



As we drive along the shore of the lake, we 
observe many fishing parties encamped and catching 
trout that are as plentiful as the rocks, fine large fel- 
lows they are, and, strange as may seem, no small 
ones are ever caught. It is a paradise for the angler. 
There are only two or three months in the year dur- 
ing which travelers; can visit this region, and the 
trout, untempted by the wily fishermen, multiply 
very rapidly. So abundant are they, that some of 
our party began pounding them with stones; shoals 
of them are seen playing along the shore and become 
an easy prey to the fly. 

Before us is a large mountain resembling an 
enormous Elephant's Back; we leave the lake and 
pass through a thinly wooded country, stewn with a 
flooring of dead tangled and gradually dying standing 
trees, many of the tree tops seem to have been broken 
off by the storms and winds, completely stripped of 
all their branches; resembling large high telegraph 
poles fifty to one hundred feet high, on the very top 
of these, eagles find a safe retreat to build their nests. 
Numerous fine specimens of this king of birds we see 
in driving along, flying from tree to tree. Approach- 
ing the lake again, we enter into the mosquito reser- 
vation where millions of these little hungry insects, 
that almost darken the sun, prey upon us. A 
fight for supremacy follows, but the mosquitoes being 
inthe large majority, our strong arms grow tired of 



76 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

the slaughter and waving our pocket handkerchiefs, 
they are left to have things their own wa3\ After 
passing through this section of distress and pain, we 
rub our itching wounds and smooth our rumpled 
features, not knowing what new adventure may be 
awaiting us. 

Our ears are again greeted by the heavy roar of 
falling waters, and we approach the Upper Falls of 
the Yellowstone. In passing this mighty water 
power, we stop and look back. The sheet of water 
coraes dashing over the rugged rocks, down a per- 
pendicular drop of two hundred feet landing on a 
shelving rock, and then dashing down into the river 
below. We cross the stream over a scanty high 
creaky wooden bridge, underneath it are the Cascade 
Falls spreading out like an open fan, Ascending a 
s^eep hill we find on its summit the Canon Hotel to 
be located. 

As twilight deepens upon the solitude, and the 
day is slowly passing out of the Western gateway, we 
ascend to the top of the steep sloping roof of the hotel, 
upon v/liich are narrow porches for the tourist to 
meditate and ponder, far away from home and friends, 
as he gazes upon the dark black dense woods, inhab- 
ited by droves of wild beasts. No doctor, no drugs, 
no nothing, but human sympathy and loving hands 
are present to administer to our wants. In the morn- 
ing when Aurora had put out the stars, and the sun 



AND HOME AGAIN. 77 

had melted the dew-drops from the grass and foilage, 
we lingered around on the porches and under the 
shade of the trees, watching the many parties starting 
out for points of interest. Long, rough and jolly 
drives must be often taken to see the hidden beauties 
of the Park. Following the example of our friends 
and companions, we load up a carriage. Slowly drag- 
ging along over rough roads, old stumps of trees, 
rocks and washed out roads, at intervals being merely 
a narrow passage wa}^ cut through the dense woods, 
we reach Point Lookout, and walking out to the edge 
of the Point, we get a glimpse of the Grand Canmi. 
Unlike other points of interest we had seen, in place 
of looking upward to grasp and comprehend its vvon- 
derful outlines, we go to the brink and looked down- 
ward to a depth of twelve to seventeen hundred feet, 
in order to surve}^ the hidden jewels, and such a cas- 
ket of dazzling splendor. As we gaze down the per- 
pendicular we are awed into silence; tlie poverty of 
language renders an adequate and faint expression 
of our admiration impossible. Driving a little further 
up the mountain another stop is made. Picking our 
way through brush and fallen tangled trees we reach 
a narrow ledge of rocks, and by cautious crawling on 
hands and knees, the venturesome can attain the very 
brink of Inspiration Point, at which point the Canon 
to the right and to the left is open without any 
obstruction. You are at once startled with a sight 



78 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

that strikes terror into the very soul, and sends the 
blood burning through the veins, and produces a beat- 
ing in the temples. Time and the whole world seem 
to be at a standstill permitting us of easy breathing 
for the moment in which we are allowed to stop and 
wonder at the strange and unaccountable force 
within, enabling us to stand and wonder, with such 
calm audacity and unconsciousness on our small ped- 
al points of the present, drifting away to fine realities 
and dreamland. Wonder at its pomp! Wonder at its 
grandeur! Wonder at its perfection! Wonder at its 
dazzling, bewildering and amazing combined creation ! 
Wonder at its mesmeric charms as the cascades of 
joys percolate through dreamy realization! 

The bright noonday sunshine falling upon this 
naked spectacle, like the visions of a beautiful dream, 
all color, all glitter and delicate tints, all joy and hope 
seems thrown at your feet. 

As we gaze down in the profound depths of the 
canon, along the sides sloping to the water's edge, 
we note some rocks' are fashioned into great pyramids, 
others into stately monuments, or ragged ruins of 
ancient temples, whose pillows onl}^ remain cleverly 
inlaid with a wealth of color, that only a skillful hand 
could build. Turrets of rock shoot up, and wear the 
appearance as if drenched in blood, abounding in a 
wilderness of color, from the softest and most deli_ 
cate shade to the most coarse and inelegant hues. It 



AND HOME AGAIN. 79 

appears af if one of those gorgeous mountain sunsets 
had fallen into this awful ab3^ss. Here you have pink, 
orange, red, yellow and white, commingled together, 
the locks crumbling and rolling down, creating new 
tints as if a number of rainbows had dropped out of 
the sky, and hung themselves, like flaming banners, 
on the walls of rock and crumbled clay. 

In the midst of this jewelled casket, a river curls 
along, trembling and jostling over rough rocks, the 
majestic roll of the waves hugging each other in the 
whirling white foam, and so stirred up, rushes on- 
ward and downward, furiously hissing, into the arms 
of another rock only to be dashed to the next. 

In the distance to the right, a white sparkling 
sheet of vv^ater, the Upper Falls, are observed coming 
rttshing over the dark deep gap among the rocks and 
trees, falling down two hundred feet into the riv^er 
and hurried unceremoniously onward over the I^ower 
Falls, three hundred and sixty feet and splashing 
along, passes Inspiration Point, forming a long blue 
tortuous line in its unbridled progress as it chases 
wave after wave in its royal march to the sea- 

Although quite a crowd of our distinguished 
party had gathered almost unnoticed by each other, 
when the power of speech returned, the}^ unanimous- 
agreed the scene excelled anything ever witnessed, 
although manj^ had visited nearly every corner of the 
earth. Tears rolled down some of their cheeks, w^iilst 



8o WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

Others panted for breath, and placed their hands over 
their eyes. 

Walking on a shori distance further, the canon 
gradually slopes down a long incline, the colored rocks 
and clay on the edge crumbling to dust, forming long 
lines to the water's edge, mingling gradually as tints 
under the brush of a skillful painter, loosing them- 
selves in one effect, as distance grovv's greater. 

Whilst lounging around, and sitting on fallen 
trees, some talking, others moTe serious by thinking, 
the stage picks us up and we return to the hotel. 

Our next day's drive being a short one, we are 
astir and out as the early dawn is ushered in through 
the purple doorway of the East, enjoying the cool and 
invigorating atmosphere. The road penetrates a 
pleasantly wooded and charmingly deversified country. 
Passing Virginia Cascade, we cautiously pick our 
way over shelving rocks, and soon arriving at Norris 
Geyser Basin again, we lunch with our Irish Larry. 
Another start is made, and as we near the Gold Gate 
one of our horses swooned, and suddenly fell to the 
ground, the other horse tumbling over him, and the 
leaders backing created the "Horse Falls" of the Yel- 
lowstone, occasioning such a combination of tangled 
legs, harness and horse flesh that seemed well nigh 
impossible. Raising the alarm signal the oncomirg 
stage soon reached lers in a full run, and in a little 
while the horses were on their legs again, and the 



AND HOME AGAIN. 8 1 

harness arighted. A short distance further on the 
same mishap befell us, the horse again going down in 
a similar mix up. The signal was sounded and on- 
ward came the back stage to our assistance, the horses 
at full gallop. As we approached the river over a 
narrow part of the road cut out of the side of the 
mountain our journey appeared fraught with danger 
and fearing a third fall from our untrustworthy horse 
w^ould prove fatal, some of the passengers left us and 
crowded into the other stages. We pass the Obsidian 
Cliffs, through the Golden Gate in safety, as the sun 
is reclining in the lap of evening tide and reached 
the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, July 22nd. 

In explanation, would say: the stages running 
through the Yellowstone Park, are of superior quality 
and harnessed with splendid horses, requiring 
cautious and thoughtful drivers, strict discipline, to 
report any irregularity or delay promptly to the prop- 
er authorities. The runs are on regular schedule 
time, every stage having a certain distance interven- 
ing, so there is no racing, or inconvenience from 
clouds of dust of the following stages. Any accident 
befalling a stage, in ten to fifteen minutes assistance 
will come galloping to your relief. . The last 
stage of every day's start is equipped with a full 
set of repair utensils. The drivers are well posted 
and willingly disseminate very interesting informa- 
tion for the edification of the gay galaxy under their 



82 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

charge, of course, which makes a seat beside or in 
close proximity to him very desirable and often tele- 
graphed ahead for. 

On Sunday morning we leave for Cinebar, await- 
ing the train, we explore the taxidermist stores and 
station surroundings. After seven days of staging, 
we take the train for Livingston situated on the Nor- 
thern Pacific Railroad. In a short time we are seated 
in a comfortable Pullman scheduled for the East. 
The morning finds us rapidly hastening over a beau- 
tiful open country, whilst at every railroad station, 
the Indian presents himself lazily loitering about in 
his gaudy skins and hideously painted features. We 
pass the state line into North Dakota. The country 
is rolling and broken, whose botanical and geological 
formation as studied from and through the car win- 
dows bears the appearance and carries the impression 
of the promiscuous and highly extravagantly miscel- 
laneous qualities of the soil. 

Tlie conductor announces that we are entering 
the Bad Lands. It is a region where fire and water 
seem to be fighting for the champion belt, and an 
earthquake had been called in for arbitration. The 
road dodging and winding through the labyrinth of 
natures upheaval, the pictorial memetic imagination 
of man in their fantastical grouping can conjure up 
mounds like great bee hives and castles, building and 
crumbling into dust with but their long bony pillars 



AND HOME AGAIN. 83 

left standing. Hottentot huts, as we used to see them 
in our school books, with their towers and walls fall- 
en into picturesque confusion abound. 

Crossing the Missouri River we soon reach Bis- 
marck which is quite a growing town. Night over- 
takes us, we roll into our little berths, rocked to sleep 
by the same old music produced by the spinning of 
the wheels over the jointed rails, re-echoing — Devil- 
a-Bit-Devil-a-Bit. 

Morning finds us in the state of Minnesota, the 
land of lakes, rivers and big forests. x\t Brainerd we 
change cars and breakfast, and then continue through 
a lumbering country comprising saw mills and walls 
of piled up lumber. Passing through the city of 
Superior we finally reach Duluth on the shores of the 
lake of the same name. We put up at the Baldwin 
House, and after having taken dinner, oversee the 
town. We behold high cliffs frowning down upon 
the cit}^, some of which are studded with comfortable 
homes. In the evening, we take the hill cog-wheel 
railroad, and ascend to the top of the cliff, upon 
which is built a large wooden pavillion, where the 
Theodore Thomas Orchestra was engaged in giving a 
series of concerts. 

Next morning after passing through a level 
country we arrive at Saint Paul, and stop at the Bry- 
an Hotel. Saint Paul is a broad gauged city, and the 
private residences are located high up on the bluffs of 



84 WESTWARD RAMBLINGS 

the river, and in style are sumptuous, elegant and 
tasteful. Fort Snelling on the banks of the Mississ" 
ippi, is beautifull}^ located, the grounds being laid out 
in walks and shady groves. The military quarters 
are built of stone and the soldiers life looks like one 
of luxury and ease. 

We cross the river to Minneapolis and stop at 
the West House. This is a wide open city, well 
equipped with fine buildings, handsome stores and 
charming suburbs. Here are located the largest 
flouring mills in the world. The Falls of St. Anthony 
are harnessed and furnish the motive power. Lake 
Harriolt a beautiful sheet of water, a few miles dis- 
tant, is reached by electric cars, where a handsome 
pavillion is erected for the visitors to enjo}^ the warm 
summer evenings and regaled with music and refresh- 
ments. 

Returning to St. Paul we take the cars for Mil- 
waukee where we arrive on the afternoon of July 29th 
stopping at the Plankington Hotel. This is a busy 
city and the many private residences occupying en- 
tire streets, of most elegant homes, surrounded with 
spacious grounds, and ornamented with statuary and 
flowers. There are delightful public grounds along 
the shore, and the whole place flavors of wealth and 
prosperity. 

Monday, w^e start for Chicago and the White 
City. We stop first at the Bankers Hotel, but in the 



AND HOME AGAIN. 85 



morning move to the Vendome Club our old quarters. 
The Fair is now at its zenith, and in complete and 
perfect running order. Midway Plaisance is not so 
foreign looking as on our first visit, since a Turk may 
now be seen wearing a high si!k hat; the scanty and 
economical dress of the New Zealander having been 
now discarded for shirt and pants, whilst the Egypt- 
ian wears a long coat and slouch hat. But all goes 
for fun and money. The drum and shrill horn pass 
for music. The Ferris Wheel makes its airy revolu- 
tions, and everybody keeps in the middle of the road. 
We set out for Indianapolis, and stop at the 
Bates House, and spend Sunday looking around the 
city. Monday morning we start for Cincinnati, and 
put up at the Burnett House. This is a dark and 
gloomy looking city. We ascend the high bluffs in 
an elevator, carrying car and passengers, where a fine 
view of the city lies at your feet. We leave Cincin- 
nati on an evening train, and roling along, secure in 
the arms of natures sweet restorer, over the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad across mountains, around short 
curves, and down into valleys, we reach Washington 
and hasten on to Baltimore and hie ourselves to the 
Carrollton Hotel, gratified beyond the power of speech 
with our success in traversing about eleven thousand 
miles without any accident or missing a single con- 
nection by train, steamboat or stage. 



B 'SW^ 



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